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  • 5 months ago
During a House Appropriation Committee markup meeting held before the Congressional recess, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) spoke about the layoffs of Department of Justice prosectors who worked on the January 6th case.
Transcript
00:00Well, we'll let somebody else.
00:03You're right. I don't want to show up your time.
00:06We'll get that answer someday.
00:07But I do appreciate the gentlelady's inquiry.
00:10I want to thank the chair, the subcommittee, the full committee,
00:13the ranking members of the subcommittee and full committee
00:15for the work that they put in, staff as well for the work that they've done.
00:20Just a few quick points.
00:21I share questions and concerns about some of the aspect of the ATF cuts
00:28and the Attorney General's testimony about combining ATF and DEA.
00:35I have my doubts as to how successful that would be or how beneficial it would be.
00:40But those are statements that she made here.
00:42She also made a commitment during her testimony here
00:45to not reduce funding for the Nibin piece.
00:50And I think that's very important.
00:52And I appreciate the fact that my colleagues are going to help us keep an eye on that as well.
00:57With respect to the overall Department of Justice, oh, I'm sorry, FBI.
01:04You know, Mr. Patel testified here.
01:05He testified roughly that he had a need for 2,400 more spots
01:10than what was provided in the President's bill.
01:13And the next day he changed that testimony in the Senate.
01:15You know, I have my doubts about the change of heart that happened overnight there.
01:23My gut is that they're going to need the spots that he was initially requesting.
01:28So I'm hoping that we can keep an eye on that going forward
01:31because I think it's a critical time for the FBI.
01:34My colleague from Texas I saw on television over the weekend,
01:39and I think the statement he made was about making sure that we focus our immigration enforcement
01:44on the most violent people out there.
01:47And I wanted to say I agree with that position with respect to the ICE enforcement.
01:54To the extent they're peeling off FBI agents to do work on any of those kinds of issues,
01:59I'd urge us to take a very close look at that and make sure they're not overdoing it
02:05because we have other criminal justice needs.
02:07We've got, for example, the Sinaloa cartel and others.
02:11They're creating problems here in the United States.
02:14So I hope that we can have a focus that isn't totally dominated by the immigration issue
02:19but also looks at some of our other criminal justice needs as well.
02:23With respect to the, I'll call it the brain drain issue,
02:27my colleagues from Virginia and Alabama, I know they have NASA assets in their district as I do in mine.
02:34I think one of the things that the United States really needs to keep in mind is that
02:38we're in a neck-and-neck race with China right now,
02:41and I think as a nation we're doing things that undermine our ability to maintain.
02:47I think we have supremacy at the moment, but I think we're putting things at risk.
02:52And it goes beyond simply this bill, for sure.
02:56But I think making sure that we continue to invest in assets like NASA, assets like NSF,
03:03assets like the educational piece that helps us produce the talent that can do this work
03:09to help us keep ahead, I think is critical.
03:12And lastly, I'll mention the Department of Justice overall.
03:20I served in the Department of Justice for four years.
03:23This isn't in this bill either, but the termination of, I believe it was 20,
03:27the DOJ prosecutors who were involved in the prosecutions of the January 6th people,
03:33I thought was completely over the line.
03:37You know, not just unethical, but perhaps illegal.
03:40And I think it's important for us to make sure.
03:43I know there are hard feelings about things going on under the Biden administration
03:46at the Department of Justice for my colleagues on the other side.
03:50And we've got our concerns now, but I think we all need to come together
03:54and find a common ground where we can say that the Department of Justice
03:58has to be insulated from politics, especially right now,
04:02because it's undermining their ability to do the job in the right way
04:06and in a way that maintains the rule of law
04:09and supports our efforts to fight crime
04:13and maintain or re-earn the trust of the American people.
04:18So I want to thank again the chairs and the ranking members
04:21for their work on this, and I yield back.
04:23Thank you very much.
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